An unreleased Heinlein novel?!

[LittleLebowski]

Very solid gameplan.

In Heinlein's case, it might also have been good to burn everything he decided to publish after The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

I agree. I could have done without the descent into free love/incest/weirdness.

[LittleLebowski]

Exhibit B: Patricia Cornwall.

It took my wife a bit to figure this one out

[Baldanders]

Fanfic?

I'll wait for the reviews. Most of what he wrote after 1966 was not good.

I wouldn't recommend much to non-Heinlein fans past then, but "Job: A Comedy of Justice" is one of his best.

I am skeptical of the first draft version of "The Number of the Beast." The published version is fun chapter-to-chapter, but adds up to nothing. (Much like "Friday," which has no real coherent plot at all.) Not that this has stopped me from reading my illustrated copy a few dozen times. I'm sure I will read this "lost" version, as well.

Someday, I'm starting a "Heinlein revisted" thread in Romper Room, when I'm the mood to enrage my fellow Heinlein fans. He has had more influence on me than perhaps any other author, and I will re-read his stories until I lose the ability to read, but Christ, the man was a complete narcissist, and he had no tolerance for any criticial analysis of his writing. The man wanted gushing praise, and anyone who didn't deliver was his enemy. This facet of his personality seems horribly obvious in his writing from "Stranger..." (which I still love) on to the end of his career.

In my fantasies, someone finds a draft for "The Sound of his Wings" (the Nehemiah Scudder origin story he planned, but never wrote). Even better, a version of "Friday" that explains how the supermen of "Gulf" left Earth to colonize "Olympia." We get a throwaway line from "Kettle Belly" in the novel, but that is it.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

If Heinlein is in the afterlife and punished for his sins - it will be to watch the movie version of Starship Troopers for eternity.

[Baldanders]

Very solid gameplan.

In Heinlein's case, it might also have been good to burn everything he decided to publish after The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

My least favorite Heinlein novel would be "Farnharm's Freehold," published right before "Moon." If it was about the tituar freehold (and the last page describing the "welcome" sign is classic), it could've been great. Instead, we get a story about a middle-aged asshole shacking up with his daughter's friend and a "satire" (at least that's how RAH thought of it) that is a dystopia involving cannibalistic black folks eating white people. It reads like something a Stormwatch member who doesn't like his wife and kids much would write.

I'd re-read his last two over that POS anyday. FF does have a more coherent plot, but it sucks in every way beyond that.

I'm not presenting this as any sort of objective analysis. Every Heinlein fan has his or her own personal list of where the Dean of SF went off the rails.

[Jaywalker]

I wouldn't recommend much to non-Heinlein fans past then, but "Job: A Comedy of Justice" is one of his best.

I am skeptical of the first draft version of "The Number of the Beast." The published version is fun chapter-to-chapter, but adds up to nothing. (Much like "Friday," which has no real coherent plot at all.) Not that this has stopped me from reading my illustrated copy a few dozen times. I'm sure I will read this "lost" version, as well.

Someday, I'm starting a "Heinlein revisted" thread in Romper Room, when I'm the mood to enrage my fellow Heinlein fans. He has had more influence on me than perhaps any other author, and I will re-read his stories until I lose the ability to read, but Christ, the man was a complete narcissist, and he had no tolerance for any criticial analysis of his writing. The man wanted gushing praise, and anyone who didn't deliver was his enemy. This facet of his personality seems horribly obvious in his writing from "Stranger..." (which I still love) on to the end of his career.

In my fantasies, someone finds a draft for "The Sound of his Wings" (the Nehemiah Scudder origin story he planned, but never wrote). Even better, a version of "Friday" that explains how the supermen of "Gulf" left Earth to colonize "Olympia." We get a throwaway line from "Kettle Belly" in the novel, but that is it.

I wasn't aware of any narcissism, but I did notice after reading Grumbles from the Grave that about the mid-60s he parted ways with his long-time editor. Page count got longer and plot importance got smaller about then.

For me, I would have asked for some more details about the disastrous "Families" meeting referenced first in Methuselah's Children.

[revchuck38]

If Heinlein is in the afterlife and punished for his sins - it will be to watch the movie version of Starship Troopers for eternity.

When that movie came out, my son wanted me to take him to see it. I bought the book and told him I'd take him after he finished reading it. He finished it and we went to the movie. When we came out, he turned to me and said, "Dad, that movie sucked!" There was some nice eye candy in it, though.

[TDA]

The movie definitely convinced me that if Dina Meyer wants to sleep with me, I shouldn’t play hard to get. I guess that’s not the lesson I have to learn in this incarnation though.

[FPS]

Stranger in a Strange Land was quite possibly the worst book I’ve read. Moon, Have Spacesuit, Tunnel in the Sky, Starship Troopers, were enjoyable.

[blues]

The movie definitely convinced me that if Dina Meyer wants to sleep with me, I shouldn’t play hard to get. I guess that’s not the lesson I have to learn in this incarnation though.

Don't mess with girls from Forest Hills.